In today's embedded controller software, an often used calculation involves creating a power of two (2N where N is an integer) for use in various computations. In binary fixed point math, the power of two may be constructed by shifting a “1” in a microprocessor register to the left by a number of bits corresponding to the magnitude of the exponent. However, such a shift does not achieve the same results in floating point math. Therefore, creating a power of two in floating point math typically requires loading a register with a value of “1” and then shifting it the requisite amount to create the power of two as an integer value. This value must then be converted to a floating point type for use in subsequent calculations. This operation is a lengthy one that consumes many processor cycles, which is undesirable in a real-time, embedded processor application.